THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
I finally made my return to the NFL International Series, after spending last season on IR (Injured Reserve), to see the Eagles play “YOUR JACKSONVILLE JAG-YOU-ARES” at White Hart Lane. I have to say, it was great to be back, and under circumstances that were a bit different from most of the International Series games I’ve attended, going back to the Giants/Dolphins game at Wembley in 2007.
The biggest difference was the overwhelming preponderance of Eagles fans. Given this was the first of the Jags’ two game in London, this may have simply been zealous Philly Phanatics grabbing the tickets when they were released, or maybe just the will of the football gods, but the booing started early and reverberated around the stadium throughout, and it was all directed at the Jags. In fact, before the game even started, Philly fans booed mercilessly when the Jags’ mascot, one Jaxson D Ville, bungeed down from the stadium roof and along the overhead camera cable. Of course Philadelphia is where they booed and threw frozen snowballs at Santa Claus, so it was nice to bring this partisan spirit we see so often at British football matches to London, with an American touch.
I was lucky in the sense I was sitting in the press area, which stretched all the way down to the five-yard line (where I was, by the Eagles’ end zone). But I had bought two tickets for my best friend (a Philadelphia native), and he and his friend were up in the gods behind that end zone, and I was getting fresh text reports from the heart of Eagles’ fandom. His friend, a Canadian, was enjoying every minute of this fresh (in both senses of the word) experience. I should also point out that the Spurs stadium is one of those brilliantly designed ones that feature the very high upper back angled toward the field – making the sight lines brilliant and also holding in much of the booing noise. The first examples of this I recall are Giants Stadium in the Jersey marshes and the new Bernabéu in Madrid.
Of course the Philly fans are also quick to boo their own team at the slightest cue. I remember the year after they won the Super Bowl vs New England they opened the season at home to Atlanta, and by halftime, with the Falcons leading, the Big Link was echoing with boos. As if, “what have you done for us LATELY?”.
Anyway, they got themselves an up and down opening to this game. The Eagles kicked off and the Jags ran it back for a touchdown, which would have been the first kickoff return TD in International Series history. Except! There were two flags thrown on the play: one against the Eagles for an illegal formation on the return – remember this is the new-fangled “dynamic” return which lines the teams up opposite each other round midfield.
The Jags drew a holding call, which honestly I couldn’t really see, but those flags offset, which means, in the Quantum NFL, the play didn’t exist, and they would have to do it again.
But wait, there’s more!
During the play, and well behind it, the Eagles’ Jeremiah Trotter Jr and the Jags Bryan Thomas Jr got tangled up: it looked like Trotter had a piece of Thomas’ helmet and they were rolling around with Trotter playing the Broad Street Bully, trying to ground and pound some other hockey player on the ice. They received offsetting penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct and were both ejected from the game. Which deserves two footnotes.
First, the Jags actually have TWO players named Bryan (or Brian) Thomas Jr on their roster, but no Brian Thomas Sr! And although Trotter Jr got one of the NFL’s quickest hooks, it wasn’t as quick as the one his dad, Brian Trotter Sr, got for the Eagles in 2005, when he and Atlanta’s Kevin Mathis were ejected for fighting during pre-game warmups, 40 minutes BEFORE the game even kicked off!
Incidentally, we saw no replay of the fouls on this, or on many of the other controversial penalty calls.
After a few sloppy series, the Jags struck first, when Trevor Lawrence hit Parker Washington across the field deep; Washington cut inside Eagles’ safety Andrew Mukuba and sprinted 51 yards for the score. The Eagles, who were having no luck running the ball (they had lost two starting linemen to Lane Johnson’s retirement and Cam Jurgens’ trade during the week) and seemed to reject passing the ball over the middle more than seven yards deep, struck back with a 50 yard drive that took 17 plays, and it was only a pass interference penalty against Travis Hunter that gave the Eagles the ball first and goal at the three. Will Shipley, playing because the top two running backs were out, finally scored to tie the game. A few minutes later, Jalen Hurts hit Darius Cooper, who beat Montaric Brown up the sidelines and cut inside the pursuing safety for a 62 yard TD, putting Philly up 14-7. This marked the end of the offensive back and forth fireworks for this game.
The Jags got the ball back at their own 25 with 5:30 left and spent the rest of the half getting into the red area, a 17 play drive which saw them with first and goal at the Eagle one-yard line with 15 seconds left. On first down, Chris Rodriguez was stuffed at the goal line and fumbled. As mentioned, I was seated at the five and had a perfect view of it, and it was a fumble, coming out of his hands before he’d come off the players he was wiggling on top of. The officials ruled him down by contact, and for some reason the replay booth, which is entrusted to review such things in the last two minutes of a half, didn’t bother. At least not until Eagles’ coach Nick Sirianni took a time out which left them with nothing else to do. I got a good replay look on the press area big screen, which confirmed my analysis, but then came the review, after about ten minutes, saying it had been a fumble but the officials and booth couldn’t figure out who’d recovered it. (!)
In this Quantum Mechanics NFL the ruling was like renaming Red Zone’s “Twitching Hour”, where fumbles become no fumbles become fumbles become no fumbles, because the act of observing affects the object being observed, and we can’t see who recovered the unfumbled fumble.
I hope that’s clear.
The Eagles got three more tries from the 1 and failed all three times. If Jags coach Liam Coen had kicked a field goal on fourth down the halftime score would have been 14-10 instead of 14-7 (this will come back later). On the other hand, the Eagles lost edge-rusher Jalyx Hunt for the game, and likely longer on the final play of the half which he stuffed.
The third quarter saw another overturned fumble, a Jags’ field goal by Cam Little finally making it 14-10, and an interception by Quinyon Mitchell which was reviewed and ruled a pick, but no one noticed that long after the play was over Mitchell, lying on the ground, was speared helmet to helmet by LeQuint Allen. Presumably every one was trying to figure out if the pick was a pick, but the game notes do note “Mitchell was injured on the play”.
In the fourth quarter it was like déjà vu all over again. Punts, penalties and finally a Jacksonville drive that started at their own 37, and took 17 plays to finally end on fourth down and five at the Eagles five: on the eleventh play they had first and goal at the Eagles’ one, and took seven tries, including a false start and two delay of game penalties before finally eschewing another field goal which would have made the score 14-13, just a field goal short of the lead instead of four points.
The Eagles had a very quick (3 plays, 1 yard) three and out, punted and then Jacksonville moved the ball to Philly’s 27, where they faced fourth down and five. Again, Coen passed on the field goal, but this time I said: “They’re not on the goal line, watch them open up and score.” Which they did, Lawrence to Washington again. But few had noticed the Jags’ long snapper had been injured on their previous punt: they drafted in defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton, whose snap went high, the hold was late, and the extra point was missed.
16-14 Jags.
Two exciting three and outs followed, as if no one were intent on winning. But Philly then came alive. Tight end Dallas Goedart took another of those short passes over the middle for 17 yards, and Hurts finally recognized rookie receiver Makai Lemon for another gain. They lost yardage on a third down run, but kicker Jake Elliott hit from 47 yards out to give the Eagles a 17-16 lead with 12 seconds left.
Remember those two easy field goals the Jags passed by?
Now came the Kontroversial Krunch. Elliott kicked off straight down the field to the eight yard line, and Ameer Abdullah returned the kick 53 yards to the Eagles’ 39. When he was tackled the officials put one second back on the game clock: I had always thought the clock would start once the ball was placed ready for play, but I must be wrong and anyway the Eagles then used a time out to “ice” Little (this does not involve federal agents storming the team bus and shooting randomly into it). Or maybe ice Hamilton. But DaVon's snap was true and Little proceeded to calmly drill a 57 yard kick and the Eagles had managed to lose 19-17. Long plane ride home.
The immediate Word from the internet Herd was that the Eagles should have kicked the ball into the end zone, which would have given Jacksonville the ball on their own 35 with 12 seconds left needing to gain at least 25 yards on two plays in 11 seconds to have a chance at the field goal. Outcome bias means no one considers what happens if your kick coverage team does its job: the clock starts when the returner touches the ball, so by the time he’s tackled there probably isn’t more than one play remaining for the Jags. Being old school, I might have asked my kicker for a knuckleball squib kick and taken my chances, but full credit to Abdullah and his blockers for outplaying the Eagles on the coverage unit. Maybe they missed Jeremiah Trotter Jr?!?
It wasn’t the prettiest game, in fact it was downright ugly, but as is so often the case in the NFL, it delivered thrills when it mattered. Before the game there had been a lot of talk from NFL fans that the tickets were too expensive and the matchups at London games were substandard. Well, the tickets are expensive, especially since it’s no longer a one-off special event, but a series of games that will only appeal immediately to fans of five teams (the Jags play twice). The NFL didn’t help by releasing unsold tickets to the previous week’s Indianapolis Colts/Washington Commandos match at reduced prices. This irritated those who’d already bought them at full price, of course, and suggested lower prices might generate more sales.
You can argue the Colts/Commies matchup wasn’t a marquee event: but with Daniel Jones and Jayden Daniels both back healthy at QB, there were stars on display. Of course no one doubted the Eagles/Jags was a top flight game, especially after Jacksonville’s strong finish to last season. They now stand 4-1 atop the AFC South.
The game was a sellout plus: attendance of 61,322 was a record for a game at Tottenham. Next week’s matchup also was marquee when it was announced in the Spring, but no one expected the Houston Texans to start the year 0-4 (they won Sunday for their first win) and it was an AFC South potential top of the table game.
Meanwhile, back in the city of Brotherly Love, the Eagle Boo Birds are out for Sirianni, or offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, or line coach Chris Kuper, or referee Ron Torbert, or someone – anyone – to take the blame. They sit at 2-3 in the NFC East, behind the 3-1-1 Giants (who got lucky when the Washington Commies did their own version of the London game, telling the Eagles to “hold my beer” as they neglected to stop the clock when they had a shot in overtime to win the game with their own field goal.
Dalass is at 2-3 after a humiliating loss to Tampa at home, which meant lots of the most pleasurable schadenfreude shots in the National Football League, those of Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones stewing in his own prune juice in his luxury box. Washington is 1-2-1 with the Giants’ tie… supposedly Americans hate tie games, but they remain the best tie-breaker in the standings at the end of the season.
The weekend’s big game back in the States were both thrillers. The 49ers winning 32-29 in Seattle and the Bills beating the Rams in Los Angeles 37-34 in overtime on Monday night. According to the herd this now makes either Josh Allen or Brock Purdy the greatest player of the season this week and a lock for MVP.
Meanwhile, north of the border on Canadian Thanksgiving, the Montreal Alouettes won a rematch of last year’s Grey Cup final, beating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 44-24 at McGill’s Molson Stadium, pushing their record to 13-3. Allons’y les Als!
